Improvement in furnaces for retorts, stills



C. BRISON.

-Bone-Black Kiln' No. 35.212. Patented May 13, 1862.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CLAUDE BRISON, OF CHALON-SUR-SAONE, FRANCE.

IMPROVEMENT IN FURNACES FOR RETORTS, STILLS, &.c.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 35,212, dated May 13, 1862.

T0 aZZ whom it may concern,-

Be it known that I, CLAUDE BRISON, of the city of Chalon-sunSanc, France, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Ovens, Kilns, or Furnaces in which Retorts are or may be made use of in various manufacturing purposes; and I do declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings and the letters of reference thereon.

These improvements relate to ovens, kilns, or furnaces in which retorts are or may be made use of for containing the materials to be acted uponsuch, for instance, as ovens, kilns, or furnaces for heating, drying, baking, burning, roasting, calcining, distilling, or other similar operations-by which a suitable rise in the degree of heat is required as, for instance, in the manufacture of boneblack or the revivifying of the same, the drying, burning, or calcining of earths, limestone, gypsum, sulphate of barytes, or other sub stances, the distilling of wood or the calcination of the same into charcoal, the distilling of coals, tar, spirits, and other analogous matters, the heating, roasting, or calcining of minerals, and other similar operations which may be effected in retorts.

The improvements consist in providing the said ovens, kilns, or furnaces, either conjointly or not, with the ordinary horizontal retorts as are made use of in the manufacture of illuminatinggas or other similar operations, with one or more vertical retorts of a cylin' drical, elliptical, or any other suitable shape, open at top and bottom, the said openings to be closed at pleasure and as hermetically as required, the top one by a corresponding lid and the bottom one by a corresponding obturator or movable bottom, jointed to one end of a counterpoisedever turning in suitable brackets, so as either to allow of applying this obturator against thelower opening of the retort, when this latter is to be filled. with the materials to be treated therein, or by withdrawing the obturator cause the materials to fall out of the retort.

At each operation the lid and the obtu rator maybe luted to against their respective openings of the retort, and if materials are to be treated in this latter evolving much gaseous matter the lid or the retort itself may be provided with an abduction-pipe for carrying the said gaseous matters to suitable purifiers, gasometers, collectors, or other apparatus, or even under or in the fire of the fire-place; or the gases may be allowed to escape at the sides of the obturator to be burned or decomposed by the heat of the fire. Sometimes it will be found useful to cause part of the heat from the fire-place to be conducted through the midst of the materials in the retort by means of a perforated pipe passing through the sides of this latter or of the lid. Small ovens, kilns, or furnaces provided with my vertical retorts may be made movable on wheels. As for the size, shape, and respective positions of the retorts in the oven, kiln, or furnace, this may vary at pleasure, according to the nature of the substances to be treated in the retorts or of the operations to be per formed therein.

In the annexed drawings is given an example of a disposition of oven, kiln, or furnace provided with some of the above-mentioned vertical and some of the ordinary horizontal retorts.

Figures 1 and 2, respectively, represent a longitudinal and a transverse vertical sectional view of the oven, of which Fig. 3 represents a horizontal sectional view over the line X Y of Fig. 1, and Fig. 4 a side elevation view.

In the figures corresponding parts are indi cated by the same letters of reference.

A represents the brick-work or masonry of the kiln provided with a hearth or fire-place, B, of which 0 are the fire-bars.

F are the vertical retorts, which may be employed either alone or in combination with the ordinary horizontal retorts, R, and may be made from fire-clay, cast-iron, or any other suitable material. These retorts F are set on suitable bed-plates, D, with their upper ends passing through and protruding for a suitable distance beyond the upper part of the kiln to allow the filling of these retorts F to take place at the top from the outside of the kiln,

On each retort F fits a movable cover or lid, 0, and the lower opening of the retort may be opened or shut by means of an obturator, I, by preference of a concave shape, jointed to the end of the arm J of the lever J J, which latter has its fulcrum in a pair of pendants, K. For keeping the obturator I in its elevated position firmly applied against the lower opening of the retort, I prefer to have a suitable counter-weight, J attached at the end of the arm J; or this arm may be, where required, retained in that position by a stop or any other suitable means. In Fig. 1 the levers J J toward the right-hand side are represented in the position in which the obturators'keep the retorts closed, whereas the left-hand levers are represented with the obturators in the lowered position, so as to allow the substances in the retort to fall out of the same into an extinguishing or cooling reservoir, H, from where the same may be removed at pleasure.

Small pipes Q, passing through the bedplate D, are some times made use of for conducting part of the heat of the flame under the obturator I or for burning the gases escaping from between this latter and the sid es of the. retort. The kiln is further provided with proper fiues L and dampers ill.

For distributing the heat more equably through the entire bulk of the materials in the interior of the retort F,a pipe may pass through the axial part of this latter and con duct part of the heat of the fire through the retort into the upper part of the flue L, and if the substances in the retort contain much water, or are to evolve much gaseous products, a perforated pipe, N, inserted in the retort and passing through the lid or the sides of this latter, may serve for collecting these pro ducts and conduct them into any suitable condenser, gasometer, or other apparatus, or even into the fire or under the fire-bars.

P represents the arch above the ordinary retorts, R, which latter by preference should be situated immediately above the fire.

It will be further understood that several distinct operations may be carried on simultaneously in the same kiln. Thus, for instance, while bones are reduced into boneblack in the retort R, those F may serve for distilling spirits by havnig the heat properly regulated by means of the dampers.

Having thus described the nature of the invention and the manner in which the same is to be carried into elt'ect,I wish it to be distinctly understood that I do not intend to restrain myself to the precise details of the invention 'hereinbefore; but

hat I claim as my invention is Providing ovens, kilns, or furnaces in which retorts are or may be made use of for various manufacturing or other purposes with vertical retorts, each having 'a suitable lid and a movable bottom or obturator, the latter jointed to a lever for allowing to open or shut at pleasure the lower opening of the retort, substantially as described, and for the purposes specified.

- CLAUDE BRISON.

Witnesses:

GEO. W. VAN HORNE, J. XV. MooRE. 

